Why ChatGPT refused to say one name

OPENAI

Why ChatGPT refused to say one name

Last weekend, ChatGPT caused a stir when it refused to mention the name “David Mayer.”

Whenever users prompted the chatbot, it returned errors like “something seems to have gone wrong” or stopped mid-reply.

This sparked plenty of theories online.

Some thought it was due to privacy requests, while others pointed to conspiracy theories.

OpenAI later explained it was simply a technical glitch. A spokesperson said:

“One of our tools mistakenly flagged this name and prevented it from appearing in responses, which it shouldn’t have. We’re working on a fix.”

People speculated about who David Mayer might be.

Some pointed to David Mayer de Rothschild, who denied involvement, calling it “conspiracy theories.”

The late Prof. David Mayer, once linked to a US security list, was also ruled out.

Here’s what happened:

• OpenAI said the name “David Mayer” was flagged by mistake due to a glitch.

• The EU’s “right to be forgotten” lets people remove their data, but OpenAI hasn’t said if this was involved.

• Experts say it’s hard for AI tools to fully erase personal information due to the large amounts of data used.

OpenAI has fixed the issue with the name, but other names flagged during the weekend still cause errors in ChatGPT.

Helena Brown, a data protection expert, explained how difficult it can be for AI systems to remove personal data completely.

AI models rely on huge amounts of information from public sources, making compliance with privacy laws tricky.

Removing a name is one thing, she said, but fully deleting all data linked to a person is far more complex.

One glitch = one million conspiracy theories.